


For Fun and Profit

by NeurotropicAgentX



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Smuggler, Bad Ideas, Ben Takes a Third Option, Blow Jobs, Dubious Consent, Flux Stabilisers, Hand Jobs, Identity Porn, M/M, Millennium Falcon - Freeform, TW - Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 06:42:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6273838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeurotropicAgentX/pseuds/NeurotropicAgentX
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rather than go train with Luke, Ben runs away from home. In the Millennium Falcon. Honestly, if the First Order didn’t want him stealing their parts, they should have made it less fun.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This first chapter is a light-hearted cross-post from [this](http://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/2821.html?thread=4041221#cmt4041221) tfa kinkmeme prompt. The second chapter’s a sequel that went off-prompt. It’s darker and comes with a trigger warning for torture.
> 
> Shout out to my editor who is a total enabler.

‘So you’re just going to send me away!?’ Ben stood in the centre of the room, facing his parents. His fists were clenched and his gaze kept darting between them.

‘Stop being so dramatic. Luke just thinks you’ll do better among other Force-sensitive kids and maybe learn some control,’ Han said.

‘I’m not a child, _father_. And just what do you mean by “do better”? Do you think Luke will stop me failing to live up to your _glorious_ legacy?’ Ben spat.

Leia held up a hand and took half a step forward. ‘Ben, calm down, we can talk about—’ she started to say.

‘Stop telling me to calm down! You do this every time!’

‘Luke says it’s dangerous for you to get so emotional,’ Leia said.

Ben threw his hands up. ‘Now I’m emotional. Maybe I wouldn’t be so emotional if my parents weren’t trying to get rid of me!’ 

Han folded his arms and tried to stare down his son. ‘That’s not what we’re doing and you know it.’

Ben took a step forward, his expression twisting when Han stood his ground. ‘You never listen to me. You never take me _seriously_.’

Han snorted. ‘Maybe if you didn’t throw a tantrum every other day like some spoilt little kid, then we would—’

Ben punched Han in the face. The argument cut off and a leaden silence settled over the family. It was hard to tell who was more surprised by the violence. Ben looked down at his own fist like he’d never seen it before. Han gingerly touched his nose. When his fingers came away wet with blood, he stared at them for a long moment.

‘Ben!’ Leia began.

‘No!’ Ben shouted and ran from the room. 

He wasn’t paying much attention to where he was going. His eyes were wet with tears and he just needed to get out, get away for a while. It seemed like inevitability when he ended up in front of the Millennium Falcon. Han had taught him everything about the old ship. Ben’s earliest memories involved staring wide-eyed at the blinking lights and complex controls in the cockpit. Even laying a hand on the hull soothed away some of Ben’s fury and hurt. A wild impulse seized him and Ben entered the ship. This wasn’t running away. He just needed a few moments of peace, away from everyone. When he’d blown off some steam he’d be back.

///

Leia found out about Ben’s disappearing act from one of her aides hours later. A roil of emotions swept through her at the news and in its wake she felt an overwhelming sense of weariness. It was always so difficult with Ben. He clashed so hard against her and Han that it was almost impossible to live in the same base without tempers flaring every other day.

Leia went to her bedroom. She wasn’t at all surprised that Han was already there, sitting on her bed and determinately staring at the ground. ‘He took the Falcon, didn’t he?’ he said as she walked in.

Leia narrowed her eyes at him. ‘How did you know that?’

‘It’s what I would have done.’

Leia sighed and came over to sit beside him. She put a hand on his shoulder. ‘He gets his recklessness from you, you know.’

Han snorted and leaned into her touch. ‘Yeah, well he gets his stubborn determination from you.’

‘And your disregard for rules,’ Leia replied.

‘Well your… aloofness.’ 

‘Well your poor decision making.’

‘Hey, that’s _our_ poor decision making,’ Han corrected. ‘You’re the one who chose me.’

Leia huffed a laugh. ‘I did.’ She watched Han staring at his feet for a long moment before she broke the silence again. ‘I don’t regret my choices, you know.’

Han looked up at her. His smile was just a little crooked. ‘Me neither.’

‘He’ll be alright,’ Leia said. 

‘Of course he’ll be alright! I’ve been teaching him how to fly the Flacon since he was big enough not to dribble on the controls.’

They lapsed into silence again. Each of them wondered if maybe this was for the best after all. Ben struggled in the long shadow of their family’s legacy. He needed a chance to learn some independence and responsibility.

///

‘Ha! Too slow!’ Ben felt a rush of exhilaration as his ship wove a beautiful path between weapon fire and debris. ‘And that’s what you get for building at the bottom of a gravity well. Try and catch me now!’ 

He smirked as one of the pursuing fighters crashed into a chunk of rock and blew apart. Who knew there was enough oxygen in one of those ships to actually cause an explosion?

Ben engaged the Falcon’s thrusters and dodged around a ball of ice twice the size of his ship. Two more fighters were lost from his tail, one exploding and the other spinning off on a completely wrong trajectory as one of its engines scraped against the ice. He only needed to lose the last fighter and then he could take the time to flip the controls and blast into hyperspace. The Falcon was faster than its pursuers, but it wasn’t designed for manoeuvrability. The only way he would win here was by sheer reflex and instinct. Conscious thought just wasn’t fast enough.

Not for the first time, Ben wished he had a co-pilot. All of his attention needed to be focused on the flying manoeuvres. It meant that he couldn’t enter hyperspace without a long initialising stage, let alone fire weapons while he was piloting. There had been a lot of close calls early on and Ben had nearly been captured or killed a half-dozen times. 

A blast from the fighter behind him streaked ahead of the ship. Ben blinked after-images from his eyes as the light blazed through the viewports. He automatically corrected his flight path, moving just a bit faster than an ordinary human. 

The Falcon felt alive around him as he made one final call. With the thrusters set to a hard burn, Ben skimmed the surface of an incoming heap of junk. The irregular surface was pitted and spiky, held together by only the weakest gravitational attraction. Ben shot over and down the surface of the junk and the burn of the thrusters and the pull of his ship flung the incoming mass into his trail. The junk collided with the last fighter in a fiery crash. Ben whooped and slowed the ship down to a cruise. His attention was freed up to focus on the hyperdrive jump. 

The Falcon had a cargo bay full of crates, all stamped with First Order emblems. There was a group of salvage runners waiting for him on Taut’ugaar who would pay top currency for the high quality flux stabilisers. Ben’s body hummed with the adrenaline of the chase and the pride of another successful raid. Honestly, if the First Order didn’t want him stealing their parts, they should make it less fun. Life was good.

For a moment, just before hitting hyperspace, Ben’s gaze slid toward one section of the ship where he knew a tracking beacon was waiting to transmit his location. It was only a simple mechanism. He could have disabled it, given some tools and a couple of hours. Instead, he left it were it was and tried not to think too hard about whether his parents or uncle Chewbacca were tracking his movements. It was much harder trying not to wonder if they were proud of him, or just disappointed.

///

Hux threw the report down in disgust. ‘How! How does he keep doing this!?’ Hux demanded. ‘That’s the fifth shipment that filthy smuggler has managed to intercept.’

Captain Phasma remained silent. The general’s ranting tended to be rhetorical. 

‘Captain, have our informants found _anything_?’ he finally asked.

‘No sir.’

‘A name? A face?’ Hux persisted.

‘No sir. All we know about the target is that he goes by Kylo, which probably isn’t his real name, and that no one seems to have seen his face. Even his fences can’t give us a clear, non-conflicting description.’ 

Hux picked up another report and read aloud. ‘So he’s “kind of tall”? He’s “average looking”? Don’t tell me criminal scum have the capacity, let alone the _inclination_ , to resist torture.’ 

Phasma stared straight ahead. ‘No sir. We suspect he wears some sort of disguise.’

Hux glared at the report and then at Phasma. ‘Fine. Dismissed, captain. I’ll deal with this matter myself.’ 

Phasma saluted and left. Hux sat down heavily at his desk and started detailing a plan of action. This smuggler was causing a disproportionate problem for the construction of the Starkiller Base. He was too good at what he did. No one should be able to be that lucky. It was like this “Kylo” had never made a single mistake. 

///

‘Kriffing kriff!’ Ben shouted as he dodged behind a corner to avoid the blaster fire. He kept up a steady stream of curses and continued running through Taut’ugaar’s warehouse district. The chiss behind him were making enough noise to signal their location. They sounded mad.

It wasn’t his fault that they were being unreasonable about the price of good flux stabilisers. Say what you liked about the First Order, they didn’t skimp on quality parts. Okay, maybe he shouldn’t have gone in without backup when they were choosing the exchange location. But he felt completely justified about opening fire on their kaleesh gunners after the deal had fallen apart. They’d screwed him over so they’d been asking for it.

At least the group of goods runners wasn’t a well-established one. It meant they wouldn’t have the resources to actually hunt him down. He may have made some enemies today, but he should be able to avoid running into them in the future. 

Even after Ben was absolutely sure he’d lost them, he still took long meandering route to one of the larger hangouts. While the larger haunts were more conspicuous, in a place like Taut’ugaar cantinas and flophouses were able to keep their own brand of peace, which was brutally and sometimes lethally enforced. No one made trouble for paying customers in places that could afford their own security. More importantly there’d be rooms, food and drink.

///

Hux had never been to Taut’ugaar, but he had done his research. The base was a well-known gathering place for criminal elements. No one had made a serious effort to wipe them out for a long time, mostly because they were just slightly more useful to have around than not. Taut’ugaar was the best place to find bounty hunters and mercenaries, black market parts and restricted substances. Both governments and commercial mega-entities had shadowy ties to the place, though nothing that could ever be proven, of course. 

Hux got out of the port region as quickly as possible and made his way to the entertainment district. He felt distinctly uncomfortable in civilian clothes, but it was a necessity. There were other humans around, but they were in a definite minority. It set Hux’s teeth on edge. Still, no one gave him a second look among the colourful dregs of galactic society. 

Getting information about his stolen cargo was a slow and frustrating exercise. No one seemed to want to talk to a stranger, even one that was offering top credit. Hux had attempted a subtle infiltration of three of the major hotspots for fences and had nothing to show for his efforts. He was sitting in one of the larger cantinas and brooding over an untouched drink when a man slid into the seat opposite to him. The stranger was tall and lanky with an unruly mop of dark hair. He was wearing nondescript robes and a lazy smirk.

‘I hear you’re looking for flux stabilisers,’ he said by way of introduction.

Hux felt a surge of triumph. He folded his arms and leaned back against his seat. ‘I am, but I’m after a lot. Five cargo crates worth, in fact.’

The man tapped a long finger against his lips. ‘Well, I don’t think I can supply you myself, but I may know some people who can.’

‘Yes?’ Hux asked, trying not to let too much eagerness show.

The man paused, searching Hux’s face for a long moment. There was something just a little too intense about those dark eyes, but eventually he spoke. ‘Sure, they’re a small group, but they get around. They’re chiss who specialise in acquisitions with a couple of kaleesh for muscle. They’ll be here tomorrow and I could point out their ship for you. I would expect a small… token for putting you in the way of this group, naturally.’

‘Naturally,’ Hux agreed smoothly.

A crooked grin flashed across the man’s face. It transformed his face, making him look almost boyish for a moment. It was disarming. 

‘Have a drink with me,’ the stranger said suddenly.

‘What?’

‘Have a drink with me.’

Hux scoffed, refusing to be put off balance. ‘I don’t even know your name,’ he said. It was a better excuse than the real one. Associating with a likely criminal was hardly a suitable use of his time, regardless of the circumstances. Or the appeal.

‘You can call me Ben.’ 

Hux debated the merits of giving a pseudonym to match the obviously fake name that “Ben” had just given him. It was probably unnecessary. His name wasn’t that unusual. ‘Hux,’ he said, not bothering to extend a hand.

‘Hux,’ Ben repeated. ‘I like it.’ There was that grin again. Hux tried to ignore it with mixed success. 

‘Look, you’re going to have to kill some time between now and tomorrow anyway,’ Ben said. It was a throwaway line, but he looked so earnest that it was hard not to give the offer some consideration.

Hux’s better instincts lost the battle. ‘Alright. One drink.’

Ben stood, moving with a strange sort of grace for his ungainly frame. ‘Back in a moment,’ he said.

Hux couldn’t quite stop himself from watching Ben as he made his way to the bar. He returned with two glasses of Tarul wine. Hux was pleasantly surprised. ‘You have good taste,’ he said.

‘Oh, I’m known for my good taste,’ Ben replied. He eyed Hux over the rim of his glass.

Hux snorted into his own glass. ‘Good taste, perhaps, but truly terrible lines.’

‘Well, better taste than you,’ Ben said, playing along, ‘because I think my “terrible lines” are working on you.’

Hux made a non-committal noise and took a sip of his drink. The wine was full-bodied and smooth and a much higher quality than anything he could get aboard his ship. There was something heady about drinking with a criminal in a disreputable cantina on Taut’ugaar. His impending success of tracking down the stolen goods only added to the feeling.

‘Do you have somewhere to stay tonight?’ Ben asked.

At this point Hux merely raised an eyebrow. ‘Is that an offer?’

Ben leaned forward looking directly into Hux’s eyes. The piercing quality of his gaze was back and it was just a touch unsettling. ‘Definitely.’

Hux refused to back down and held the look. ‘Alright.’ The disconcerting look vanished from Ben’s face. It was replaced by a grin. This time Hux let himself be charmed.

///

Ben practically jumped on Hux once they got inside his sparse room. His eagerness was flattering, though a little clumsy. He had one arm looped around Hux’s waist and his other hand fisted in his shirt just below the collar. He kissed enthusiastically with just a hint of teeth. There was almost something playful about it.

Hux attempted to bring some direction into things and tugged at Ben’s robes. ‘Strip down,’ he ordered. 

Ben’s breath stuttered and his grip on Hux tightened minutely before letting go. ‘Yeah, okay,’ he said a little hoarsely. 

Ben wasted no time in pulling off his robes. Hux began to remove his own clothes. He caught glimpses of Ben’s chest and the long lines of his limbs. There were a couple of faint scars on his torso. Though they weren’t that different from the sort of marks of sparring-gone-wrong, Hux saw them as yet another reminder that he was dealing with someone from outside of the neat military hierarchy. 

As Hux set aside his last piece of clothing, his gaze flicked up and he saw that Ben was giving him a similarly blatant appraisal. In a flight of fancy, he would have sworn that he could feel the heat of Ben’s gaze on his skin. Ben was smirking at him. Hux took two steps into Ben’s space and pushed him back toward the bed. Ben’s frame was solid, but he seemed to go down gladly enough. The bed’s dark covers contrasted nicely against his skin as he pushed himself up on his elbows. He looked at Hux through hooded eyes. ‘So that’s how it’s going to be.’

‘If you don’t have any objections,’ Hux replied.

Ben’s smirk grew a little wider. ‘Not at all.’ He spread his legs in a sinuous movement and Hux’s mouth went a little dry. He planted a hand on Ben’s chest and slid onto the bed. Ben uttered a soft sigh as his cock brushed against Hux’s hip. They were close enough to share breath and the heat between their bodies made everything seem close and intimate. Too intimate perhaps, Hux thought as he leaned in for a kiss. 

Ben’s lips parted beneath Hux’s. The earlier fervour had transformed into something else as Ben stopped trying to set the pace. It didn’t stop him from shifting his hips in an attempt to get some friction, however. Hux smirked and leaned back so he could run his tongue over his own palm. Ben seemed transfixed by the sight and his throat bobbed as he swallowed. Hux reached down and curled his hand around both their cocks after a brief fumble. The feeling of heated, silky skin beneath his slick palm was deeply gratifying. Though not half as gratifying as Ben’s throaty moan, or the way his large hands came up and clutched at Hux’s back. He’d instinctively thrust into the tight grip and the slide of his cock against Hux’s was maddening and perfect.

It wasn’t long before Hux had to bite down on Ben’s shoulder to stifle the noises that were rising unbidden in the back of his throat. Ben arched into the sensation and gasped, his eyes wide. ‘Well, that’s new,’ he panted, ‘do it again.’

Hux smirked against Ben’s skin and nipped at the base of his jaw. Ben moaned, tilting his head to one side and exposing the pale line of his throat. The expanse of bare skin and the implicit trust of the gesture were affecting Hux more than he’d like to admit. 

He dragged his teeth along one tendon and then sank his teeth into the juncture of Ben’s neck and shoulder. Ben bucked beneath him, uttering a sharp yelp. Hux’s grip tightened instinctively and Ben’s blunt fingernails bit into his back in response. He was close and Ben looked like he was about to come, or possibly pass out. His chest rose and fell with each gasping breath and the hammering of his heart was strong enough for even Hux to feel. 

‘Go on,’ Hux said, ‘let me feel you come.’

A shiver ran through Ben and he uttered a low noise that sounded almost pained. He clenched his eyes and arched right back, baring his throat. Hux felt the warm spill of fluid over his hand. The slick, obscene feel of it only fuelled Hux’s cresting arousal. Beneath him, Ben was flushed and panting, but a small smirk was curling across his lips. There was something like a taunt in his eyes. Hux’s orgasm tore through him and the look of satisfaction in Ben’s expression only intensified it.

The aftermath left Hux’s limbs shaky. He grimaced slightly at the mess covering his hand and their bellies. It was erotic at the time, but now it was grating against Hux’s fastidious nature. Ben hauled himself into a roughly upright position and reached out to grab a corner of the covers. He used it to wipe both of them off. Hux gave him an unimpressed look, but Ben just shrugged. ‘They’re not my sheets.’

Hux rolled his eyes. ‘Fine, but you’re definitely sleeping on that side.’

Ben’s smile only broadened. Then he lay back down. Hux debated with himself for a moment, but honestly there was only so much room in the bed and… lying close… to the likely criminal was easily the least of his transgressions for the evening.

///

Hux woke slowly. He felt relaxed and languid. Sex with Ben had been just the outlet he’d been craving. Speaking of which… he turned on his side, but Ben’s half of the bed was empty, barring the rumpled sheets. It was cold too, so he hadn’t left recently, either. Frowning to himself, Hux sat up. This was Ben’s room and places like this tended to demand payment up front. He was being over-suspicious. Ben had likely already woken up and gone down to get food. 

Hux looked around for his clothes. They were gone, as were all his personal effects, including his blaster, credits and comm. So were Ben’s. Hux opened the one storage cupboard and found it as bare as the rest of the room. In doing so he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. Someone had written something across his chest.

_Next time you’re chasing down stolen goods, maybe don’t be looking for the *exact* amount that was stolen. Warmest wishes, Kylo._


	2. Chapter 2

When the ping came, it wasn’t on Hux’s regular narrow-beam secure channel. It was still one of the top-priority ones that were only accessed by high command. There was a lot of interference, which was unusual from Hux’s regulation comm.

‘General?’ Phasma asked carefully.

‘Yes, captain, it’s me.’

‘Did you track down the smuggler, sir? Do you need ’troopers sent down?’

There was a long pause on Hux’s end. ‘No, captain. I require transport off Taut’ugaar.’

‘I can send a ship down—’

‘Actually, captain, I would prefer you to come down yourself. Use discretion.’

Phasma reassessed the situation. ‘Is this a stealth mission?’

‘Not quite. Just. Come down here and keep it quiet and bring a uniform. I’ve had just about enough of civilian attire.’

Phasma picked up the faint sound of laughter in the background.

‘And also a new comm, blaster and additional funds for the locals who’ve been… helpful.’

‘Sir,’ Phasma said neutrally. 

When the whole story came out on Taut’ugaar, Phasma had never been more grateful for her helmet. It meant that as long as she held back her laughter, she could grin like a fool and Hux would never know.

///

Ben considered the situation on board the Falcon while the Taut’ugaar base dwindled to a speck in the distance. He’d been sure that the First Order couldn’t make this game any more entertaining. But now they’d upped the stakes in the most hilarious way possible. They’d sent one of their own operatives after him. With the way Hux had been radiating military stiffness, he definitely hadn’t been a bounty hunter. A bounty hunter would have understood the unspoken rules of Taut’ugaar and wouldn’t have been half as obvious.

Now Ben knew he was being hunted and that he was causing genuine trouble for the First Order. He glanced over at the panelling that concealed the Falcon’s tracking beacon. When he’d started stealing from the Order it hadn’t been about the Resistance. However, with increasingly concerning reports about the First Order’s activities, everything became just a bit more complicated. It was still the most fun place to steal from, but there was definitely more than one reason to stall their building projects.

Ben drummed his fingers against the side of the pilot seat. His gaze also skipped over the comm he’d snatched from Hux. He’d already started tinkering with it. Admittedly his early experiments had mostly just dented it and he’d nearly broken the kriffing thing _twice_ , but he was pretty sure he could use it to tap into the command frequencies. There was potential in that.

///

Days later, Hux stared fixedly at the screen that displayed representations of his fighters chasing down that kriffing smuggler. The blinking dots of the First Order ships were winking out one by one as they tried and failed to follow Kylo’s extreme manoeuvres. 

This time Kylo had managed to sneak into a cargo bay completely undetected and the notification for an unauthorised flight departure was the only reason they’d managed to launch a counter-strike at all. The shipment of parts had not been crucial, for once, but this had gone beyond a logistical problem into something much more... galling. 

The last fighter symbol was lost from the screen, leaving only the smuggler’s ship drifting on a sedate trajectory. Hux slammed a fist against the console, making a couple of his surrounding officers jump. A few of them exchanged looks over the uncharacteristic display. 

The uneasy silence was broken when Hux’s comm picked up a signal from what appeared to be his own narrow beam channel. He answered cautiously. ‘Who is this, and why are you on this frequency?’

There was a loud crackle and not much else. After a moment a voice cut through the interference. ‘Is this Hux?’ asked a familiar voice.

Hux’s expression darkened. ‘That’s General Hux to you, smuggler scum.’

Warm laughter came across the channel far more clearly than it should have. ‘A general? Well, well. I suspected you were First Order, but not _that_ highly placed. That will make what I have to say even more interesting to you.’

‘Say your piece and get off my comm!’ Hux snarled.

‘Temper, temper,’ Kylo admonished. 

Hux stared at his comm, too stunned by the audacity to even yell.

‘So remember how I stole that shipment of weapons a while back? Well I decided to be nice and return a few of them. You know, kind of as payment for this latest batch of parts.’

‘What?’

‘Yeah, you’re going to want to evacuate cargo hold four in the next half-hour or so.’

Hux’s eyes widened. There had been some serious explosives in the batch of weapons that Kylo was referring to. ‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘Unlike you, I don’t actually want that kind of body-count. Also, you’re cute when you’re flustered. Until next time, _General Hux_.’

Hux’s comm went dead. He wasted no time in ordering the partial evacuation. Kylo had made a severe error of judgement. There was a huge range on regulation comms and narrow frequencies could be tracked by their discharge. He smiled to himself. By making this personal, Kylo had made a grievous mistake. 

///

Hux was off duty when he got the comm. The tech department had managed to lock on to the signal from Hux’s stolen device and track the trajectory and hyperspace signature of Kylo’s ship. The ship and the smuggler himself had been successfully captured and the raiding party would be docking soon. Hux decided that he would head to the hangar bay in person. A dark anticipation filled him at the thought of the smuggler being brought in, ready to face retribution. He told himself that it was because of the logistical nightmares that Kylo had caused during the Starkiller construction and not at all to do with personal reasons. 

Hux arrived at the hangar bay moments before the ships docked. First Order craft slotted neatly into their positions while the bulky smuggler ship was left in the middle of the bay. They’d find a place for it later. A ramp descended from Kylo’s ship and a squadron of stormtroopers marched out. The first two were half-carrying and half-dragging the prisoner. They stopped in front of Hux, but didn’t try to salute with their hands otherwise occupied. 

Kylo looked the worse for wear. The stormtroopers were holding him by his upper arms and it looked like their grip was the only thing keeping him vaguely upright. His head hung down between his shoulders so that his ridiculous mop of hair obscured his face. Even so, Hux could see that blood was dripping from his face onto the durasteel flooring. It looked like the stormtroopers hadn’t taken so kindly to the lives he’d cost them.

Hux grabbed a handful of Kylo’s hair and lifted his head. One of his eyes was bruising badly and he bled freely from a cut that crossed his cheek and nose. Despite all this, his eyes were bright with defiance and when he noticed who was gripping his hair, he had the audacity to grin. His teeth were bloodstained. Hux tried to ignore the coil of heat that twisted in his guts.

‘So, the mighty Kylo has finally been apprehended. Do you have anything to say for yourself?’

Kylo tugged his head away from Hux’s grip. His gaze traced over Hux’s uniform. ‘Well, I’m feeling pretty special to get a general’s _personal attention_.’

‘You’ve caused the First Order a lot of inconvenience recently. But more importantly you managed to evade us for an admirably long time. The First Order could use someone with your skills.’

Kylo’s eyes widened. ‘Huh. I wasn’t expecting a job offer.’ He gave every appearance of thinking it over. ‘No, I don’t think so. I’m definitely not cut out for military discipline and being uptight and rigid.’ He gave Hux a very pointed appraisal. ‘It looks good on you, though.’ Then he winked.

Hux backhanded Kylo across the face. How dare that insolent smuggler remind him of the incident? Kylo spat blood onto the floor. Hux took a step back. ‘Now I definitely want to join your little outfit,’ Kylo said.

‘Take him away,’ Hux ordered. ‘He can’t have been working alone all this time. Extract the names of his co-conspirators and any of his contacts on Taut’ugaar.’

‘Sir,’ the stormtroopers affirmed.

‘Oh, and find out his real name,’ Hux added as an afterthought.

‘It really is Ben,’ Kylo called out as he was dragged away.

Hux snarled to himself. None of the stormtroopers knew the reference Kylo had just made, but reminders of Hux’s… momentary lapse of judgment were unacceptable. At least Phasma wasn’t around to hear it. He could have sworn she had been laughing at him back on Taut’ugaar.

///

‘I’ve never seen the general get so angry with a prisoner,’ one stormtrooper said after they’d secured the prisoner.

‘The smuggler’s been a headache for ages now. You know how the brass gets about the precious “Starkiller”,’ a second one replied.

‘I guess, but it just seemed kind of personal.’

‘No one cares, Eight-seven,’ a third stormtrooper called out. ‘We did our jobs and that’s what matters.’

///

Ben ran through the facts and his options. He was captured and almost certainly facing torture, but he wasn’t at a complete disadvantage. The First Order didn’t know who he was, so they wouldn’t be asking the right questions. The other smugglers and fences on Taut’ugaar meant nothing to Ben and he would sell them out in time. The other advantage he had was that general. 

Hux was definitely having trouble sorting out the personal and the professional. That job offer was almost certainly not about Ben’s “skills”. It was useful though. All Ben had to do was endure some torture, give every appearance of breaking and then accept Hux’s offer. Then he could bide his time, maybe sabotage a mission or two and escape in the Falcon. Okay, maybe aiming for the Falcon was a little unrealistic. He’d probably end up in one of those hunk-of-junk ships the First Order used. 

They didn’t end up taking him to a holding cell. Instead he was dragged straight to a place with a lot of soundproofing and a table with carefully organised, creepy looking devices. Then they stripped off his shirt and tied him down. He made a half-hearted quip about buying him dinner first, but the stormtroopers didn’t seem amused, at least as far as he could tell through those helmets. 

All of the soldiers left and Ben tested his bonds. No luck, they were high tech enough that they adjusted to his movements so he wouldn’t be able to dislocate his thumb and slip out. Okay, plan A it was.

Some time passed before someone new came in. He had the same military bearing as the rest of the First Order people that Ben had seen, but his uniform was unfamiliar. The newcomer circled around so Ben couldn’t quite keep him in his field of vision.

‘Subject is designated “Kylo” true name unknown at present.’ The soldier appeared to be recording and rattled off a time and date as well. It was a little unnerving—especially with the way he was keeping out of sight.

Ben tugged a little at his bonds and tried to twist his head and make eye contact. ‘Hey, so you know my “designation”, can I get yours?’ he asked.

There was a pause and the soldier stepped around to Ben’s front. ‘My designation is GC-131A, but my comrades have taken to calling me “Knives”. I don’t think that’s particularly subtle, nor do I happen to use blades, but complaining about a nickname is a good way to lose the privilege.’ Knives gave a thin smile. Ben tried to grin back, but he knew his expression twisted a bit.

‘I’m going to hurt you for the duration of this shift,’ Knives said. ‘I’m not going to ask you any questions. There will in fact be nothing you can say that will get me to stop. This process will repeat over several shifts until I’ve decided that your answers can be trusted.’

Ben kept a sickly grin on his face through sheer force of will. ‘And here I thought all the horror stories I’d been hearing about the First Order were propaganda.’

Knives didn’t bother responding and instead picked up an instrument. It was delicately tapered and the end was glowing a deep red. Ben could feel the heat radiating from it as Knives brought it closer to his torso. The torturer wasn’t looking at his face, and seemed far more interested in the scars on his skin and the planes of his muscles. ‘Hey, maybe you should—’ Ben began to say.

Knives made an absent shushing gesture before burning a line just beneath Ben’s collarbone. The air in Ben’s lungs left on a gasping exhale. He tried to jolt away but his restraints held him perfectly steady. Knives applied a new burn across his chest and Ben screamed. 

It was so much worse than he’d imagined. His nerves felt flayed open and raw. Everything in him was desperately trying to twist, to move, to fight, anything to stop the unremitting assault of pain. 

There was a pause. Ben opened his eyes, surprised to find that his vision was blurred with tears. Knives was standing by the array of devices. One of his hands hovered over the instruments as he made a decision. He lifted something broad with a razor edge. Ben’s pulse raced. ‘No, no please don’t,’ he begged as the torturer approached him.

A smile twitched across Knives’ lips, but it was gone in an instant. He didn’t bother saying anything in response. Instead, a new sensation cut through the dull red pain of Ben’s aching burns. It was more acute, less diffuse, but no less agonising. 

‘ _Please!_ ’ Ben screamed. It was the only coherent word he could make. His thoughts were clouding and his body didn’t seem to be responding the way it should. As the pain intensified, a deep, instinctual part of him reached out, searching for respite.

///

Hux was sitting at his desk when it happened. One moment he was filling out reports and the next he had a splitting headache. He gritted his teeth against the pain, but it cut off abruptly. He was left with an odd buzzing that numbed his limbs. It made it difficult to focus and his thoughts turned suddenly to Ben. It took Hux several moments before he realised that the thoughts felt wrong, intrusive. The smuggler was Kylo, not Ben. 

Hux abandoned his reports and made his way to the cellblock. A sick feeling was rising in the pit of his stomach. For the first time that he could recall, he desperately hoped he was wrong about something. Regardless, he would get the answers he sought by any means necessary. 

Kylo was being worked over in an interrogation room when Hux arrived. His torso had been bared and the marks of various devices littered his skin. 

Hux turned to the stormtrooper on guard and the torturer. ‘Leave us,’ he commanded. They both nodded before filling out. Kylo was shaking where he was bound and his gaze wasn’t quite focused. He flinched when Hux approached, which was a strange mix of satisfying and unsettling. 

‘You’re Force-sensitive, aren’t you?’ Hux asked.

‘Don’t know what you’re talking about,’ Kylo slurred.

Hux sighed and picked up a simple blade from the variety of equipment displayed on the small durasteel table. He ran it down Kylo’s arm, wincing as he felt the same odd sensation from his office, only clearer than before. Kylo whimpered at the renewed pain. The sound stirred a complicated assortment of feelings in Hux.

‘The signs have been explained to me and I’ve been watching for a while now.’ Hux’s tone turned thoughtful. ‘Strangely enough, I might not have felt anything if we hadn’t… met before. I’m as Force-null as they come.’

Kylo was clearly making an effort to focus through the pain. ‘Don’t… don’t tell anyone, don’t… let him know. Please. _Please_ , Hux.’

Hux wet his lips. He’d wanted Kylo brought low. Having him beg should have been gratifying, but not like this. Hux needed time to think. Without saying anything further, he left.

‘Get the prisoner a medical droid and see that he’s cleaned up and returned to his cell. Make sure he’s fed and watered too. His wellbeing just became important.’ 

The stormtroopers were too well conditioned to question his orders and Hux didn’t wait around to be acknowledged. He had important things to consider.

///

Leia’s eyes went wide and unfocused. She drew in a sharp breath that sounded almost pained. Han was out of his seat in a moment and rushing to her side.

‘Okay, meeting’s over, everybody out,’ he barked.

The Resistance officers and affiliates looked at him and then at their general, who was staring at some distant point.

‘Now!’ Han yelled. ‘And get one of the med droids in here!’

That made the Resistance members scramble. In the moments after they left the room, Leia came back to herself. She grabbed Han by the front of his shirt as if she needed something to anchor herself. Her grip was like iron. ‘He’s in trouble,’ she said in a firm clear voice. ‘Ben’s in trouble, we need to help him.’

Han gaped at her. ‘What?’

‘I felt it, I know something’s wrong. You need to believe me.’

‘I do,’ Han said without hesitation. ‘I don’t know how this Force thing works. It never made any sense to me, but if you say Ben’s in trouble then we’ll go rescue him. Where is he?’

Leia swallowed. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Okay, not a problem. I’ve been tracking him by the Millennium Falcon. I have an idea or two, worst-case scenario I check with some old friends on Taut’ugaar. He seemed to hang around there a lot.’

‘You didn’t mention he’s been in Taut’ugaar,’ Leia said. ‘And what “old friends?” You screw over all your fences.’

‘I have plenty of friends!’ At Leia’s sceptical look he amended, ‘okay, there are a _few_ fences I never got the chance to screw over and will still deal with me.’ At least she wasn’t bringing up the fact that he’d glossed over the details of some of Ben’s stops. He hadn’t wanted Leia to worry, and their kid was quick. Ben had what it took to be a smuggler. It ran in his blood.

Han got out his datapad and pulled up the last known location of the Falcon. ‘Oh no.’

‘What? Leia asked.

‘He was in First Order space. And he didn’t make a jump to hyperspace.’

‘What was he doing in First Order space?’ Leia demanded.

Han mumbled something.

‘What was that?’

‘I’d guess stealing parts. He’s jumped between First Order space and Taut’ugaar about a dozen times.’

Leia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. ‘Fine. That’s not important now. We have to assume he’s been taken by the First Order. They probably don’t know who he is or they’d have gloated about it to us by now or tried to use him as a bargaining chip. We need to rescue him, but we can’t let this lead back to the Resistance for everyone’s sake.’

‘Me and Chewy will bring him back,’ Han said grimly.

‘What? No!’ said Leia. ‘Han, you’re too old for that kind of thing. Besides, we need you here.’

‘He’s our kid, Leia, and you said it yourself, it’s not a resistance matter, we can’t just ask our troops to—’

‘You’re right. It wouldn’t be fair to order troops for this, but I volunteer.’

Leia and Han turned to face Poe Dameron, who walked into the room followed by a medical droid. 

‘Glad to see you’re feeling better, general.’

Leia spoke first. ‘Poe, what you’re doing is noble and I thank you for it, but this really isn’t about the Resistance.’

‘And that’s why I’m volunteering. I’ll bring your son back, general. You do so much for the Resistance, for _us_. I think it’s time I returned the favour.’

Poe was giving her an unwavering look that was more serious than Leia had ever seen on him. Her protests died on her tongue. 

‘Chewbacca’s going to want to go with you,’ Han said.

‘Han…’ Leia said.

‘Hey, I’m old for a human, but he’s not old for a wookiee. Besides,’ Han added with a grin, ‘do you think you’d be able to stop him?’

///

Hux was not one to rush decisions. He thought through his options over the next two days. The Supreme Leader had instructed him in the basic signs of Force-sensitivity and given him orders to bring any candidates before him without delay. At the time, Hux had been entirely sceptical about such matters. He had brought prisoners displaying strange capabilities before Leader Snoke before, but nothing had ever come of it. 

Rumour had it that years earlier, Leader Snoke had acquired a group of failed Jedi to mould, but that all of them had broken under his tutelage. If the Supreme Leader had been trying to compel magic through torture, Hux wasn’t surprised that none of his victims had lasted. 

Hux had had some vague notions of convincing, or, if necessary, compelling Kylo into the service of the First Order. Perhaps it wasn’t the most objective idea he’d ever had, but it was true that the Order needed pilots with a greater capacity for independent thought and initiative. Besides, black-market contacts had their uses. Now, he knew his choices were limited to handing Kylo over to Leader Snoke and his likely death, or…

Well. 

Hux made his way back to the cellblock. He dismissed the stormtroopers that were guarding Kylo’s cell. While they marched down the corridor, he took a moment to examine the prisoner. Apart from some minor fraying of his clothing, Kylo was looking much better. He sat with his back against the far wall of his cell and his knees were hunched up in front of his body, but the defiance was back in his eyes. There was a new wariness, but he looked more ready to fight than break. Good. 

‘Has anyone ever told you that you’re inconsistent?’ Kylo asked.

Hux allowed himself a thin smile. ‘You know why I called off the torture.’

Kylo didn’t flinch, but his eyes narrowed. ‘Wouldn’t want to damage the goods. I’m a smuggler, I get the idea.’

Hux let out a long sigh. ‘Look. The Supreme Leader is not an idiot and if you stay here, he’ll eventually find out about you, whether I deliver you personally or not.’ 

Kylo rose and walked right up to the bars of his cell. ‘Don’t. Please,’ he said. His flippancy was gone and in its place was something haunted. ‘I’ll… I’ll do anything you want. I’ll stay away from First Order space, sell out every smuggler in Taut’ugaar.’ Kylo broke off for a moment and wet his lips. ‘And, well, we were pretty good together last time. We could go another round.’

It took Hux a moment to actually grasp what Kylo was suggesting. A cold sensation swept through him as understanding dawned. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, you’re a prisoner!’ he snapped.

Kylo was giving him an odd look. Hux struggled to compose himself and continued in a more even tone. ‘Look. I came down here to mention that there _are_ holes in our security. You wouldn’t have been able to elude us for so long if there weren’t.’

Kylo’s intense gaze was focused entirely on Hux. ‘What are you saying, exactly?’ he asked.

‘I’m saying that you better not get captured a second time, because I would be forced to update our measures and you wouldn’t escape again,’ Hux said. A leaden feeling settled in his gut at the prospect of his own implicit treason.

Kylo blinked. ‘You’d really…? Just like that?’

Hux growled. ‘Hardly “just like that”. This is not a decision I’ve made lightly.’

‘Okay, so… are you going to—’

‘No,’ Hux interrupted. ‘I’m going to leave here, continue with my shift on the bridge, where I will have a plausible alibi with witnesses. _You_ , on the other hand, will try and work with any… advantages… you discover and use that infuriating luck of yours.’

Kylo nodded without breaking eye contact. ‘Thank you,’ he said with an uncomfortably deep sincerity. 

Hux grimaced. ‘Don’t thank me. You continue to be my stupidest mistake.’ He turned to leave.

‘Wait!’ Kylo called. ‘We should still fuck.’

Hux turned back around and gaped at Kylo. ‘What? No! You’re still a prisoner.’

Kylo was giving him a questionable grin. Hux had no idea what his game was. ‘You wouldn’t have said what you did unless you’d screwed with the surveillance down here,’ Kylo said with a shrug.

‘Well done for completely missing the point,’ Hux replied with mounting incredulity. ‘I’m not going to take advantage of a prisoner.’

Kylo leaned against the bars. ‘It’s hardly “taking advantage” if I’m offering.’

Hux pinched the bridge of his nose. ‘Yes, it is. Do you have _any_ concept of how inappropriate it would be?’

Kylo gave a long sigh. The grin was gone and the earnestness was back. ‘Look, it’s been a pretty lousy few days and I’d like to take the opportunity while I can.’ The grin crept back across Kylo’s face. ‘Besides, don’t think I can’t tell how much you like having me at your mercy.’

There wasn’t much Hux could say to that. Well, nothing that wouldn’t be a blatant lie.

‘Come on, Hux. One last time,’ Kylo coaxed.

Hux pondered the nature of stupid mistakes as he keyed in the passcode to the cell. Kylo only took a couple of steps back, meaning that they were sharing personal space as soon as Hux entered the cell. He almost expected Kylo to try and attack him, but instead he merely closed the meagre distance between them to kiss.

There was nothing sweet about the way Kylo was kissing, but neither was there the violent edge that Hux had half-expected. Kylo’s kiss was all desperation and hunger. He clutched at Hux and licked into his mouth. His eyes were screwed shut, perhaps to block out the cell, or perhaps the situation itself. 

Hux broke the kiss to gasp for breath. ‘I seem to recall something about you being at my mercy,’ he managed to say in a fair approximation of a calm tone.

Kylo pulled back slightly to smirk at him. ‘I did say that, didn’t I?’ Then without breaking eye contact, he slid to his knees, right there in the middle of the cell. The sight made lust surge through Hux. He barely registered Kylo fumbling with the fastenings of his uniform, but he certainly noticed the wash of cold air and then hot breath against his cock.

His hands carded reflexively through Kylo’s hair, enjoying the silky feel between his fingers. Kylo leaned forward and ran his tongue along Hux’s cock. He then made a considering noise and gave a few more exploratory licks. Hux gritted his teeth against the light touches and resisted the urge to thrust forward. 

‘Kylo,’ he snapped.

The smuggler just gave him an insolent smirk before taking Hux into his mouth. He sucked gently, staring up at Hux with something dark glinting in his eyes. Hux kept himself as still as he could, letting Kylo set the pace. It was sweet enough to be torturous. Then after a while Kylo pulled back completely, ignoring Hux’s frustrated groan. 

Kylo was breathing heavily and the look in his eyes had crystallised into something harsher. ‘Harder,’ he demanded. ‘I want to really feel it,’ 

That caught Hux completely off guard and his own breath caught in a shaky exhale. ‘You’re sure?’ he managed to ask.

Kylo rolled his eyes. ‘Yes.’

Hux pushed back in, this time barely holding back. In response Kylo made a noise halfway between a moan and a whine. The needy sound went straight to Hux’s cock. He tugged at Kylo’s hair and his next thrust was hard enough to reach the back of Kylo’s throat. The wet heat of it sparked pleasure along Hux’s nerves. 

He was finding it hard to focus his attention, but he noticed when the whisper of cloth gave way to a familiar sound. Hux looked down to see Kylo pleasuring himself. The sight ripped through his fraying composure like a blade. Kylo _wanted_ this, was enjoying the feeling of kneeling at Hux’s feet like this. 

It was too much. Hux’s breath was harsh and shallow. He bit back a curse with sheer willpower and tensed as he came. A muscle in his thigh twitched as he fought against the sudden weakness in his legs. At his feet, Kylo was working himself and with a few more frantic movements, he spilled over his hand and onto the floor of the cell. The sound he made was exquisite and Hux shivered as lust warred against the impossibility of renewed arousal. He tucked himself deliberately back into his pants.

Then he grimaced slightly as Kylo tore off the frayed corner of his shirt to wipe up the stain. It was so uncivilised. Kylo caught his expression and smiled. ‘I was hardly going to leave it as is.’ 

Hux muttered something uncharitable under his breath and turned to go. There was no chance to rest now, not when he had things to arrange for Kylo’s escape. Besides, this entire situation had been wildly inappropriate. There was something about Kylo’s uninhibited manner that invited poor decisions and a similar lack of impulse control. Even now, Hux couldn’t quite regret his choices. 

‘By the way,’ Kylo said suddenly, ‘my name really is Ben. Really.’

Hux turned back and gave him a narrow-eyed look. In the face of Kylo’s - _Ben’s_ \- earnest expression it was hard not to believe it. ‘Ben. I like it,’ Hux said after a moment, thinking back to their first conversation.

Ben gave a quiet laugh, though it came out a little wistful. Hux tried not to be charmed, remembering that it would be a good thing if it were the last thing he ever heard from the smuggler.

///

Ben lifted his head from where it was resting on his knees when the guard changed over. He’d gone from two guards down to one, and if Hux’s vague assertions about escape meant anything at all, this stormtrooper probably wasn’t very dedicated. 

‘So, come here often?’ Ben asked. 

The stormtrooper turned toward him. ‘What?’

‘Just making conversation.’ Ben shrugged, then winced as the movement pulled some of the burns that crossed his shoulders. The stormtrooper looked away hastily. 

Ben gave a bitter smile. ‘Not comfortable with the methods of your Order?’ he asked.

The stormtrooper’s grip on their weapon tightened. ‘No, as a matter of fact.’

‘Oh, I get it, it’s a lot easier to go along with it when you don’t have to see the results first-hand.’

The stormtrooper turned around fully and took a step until they were right against the bars. Ben shrank back reflexively. ‘I see the results “first-hand” all the time. Do you have any idea what it’s like to see your comrades, your _friends_ die in front of you. Knowing that they didn’t have a choice, that _you_ don’t have a choice. _I just…_ ’ The stormtrooper gave an emphatic shake of their head and lapsed into silence.

Ben caught the catch in their voice and felt a weird prickling of anger and something like despair radiating from them. ‘Kriff. I didn’t…’ Ben ran a hand through his hair. ‘Sorry. That wasn’t fair. I’m a little on edge right now for some reason.’

The stormtrooper snorted.

‘Look, what’s your name?’ 

The stormtrooper managed to look uncomfortable, even with their face covered. ‘I’m FN-2187.’

Ben stared for a long moment. ‘That’s it? That’s what people call you?’

FN-2187 shrugged. Even wearing full armour they managed to look kind of embarrassed. ‘Well, usually they just call me Eight-seven.’

‘Okay. Eight-seven. I can work with that.’ Ben gave his brightest grin. ‘So, Eight-seven, I’m planning to get out of here. Do you want to come with?’

///

‘I have a bad feeling about this,’ Poe said as he ducked behind a support strut. Chewbacca’s response was a quiet agreement, the sound rumbling in the back of his throat. The whole situation felt like a trap. They hadn’t had to fire a single shot, let alone take out a stormtrooper patrol. It would almost have been reassuring if they’d been dodging enemies. This felt way too easy.

Just then a whole squad rounded the corner up ahead. Poe and Chewbacca moved into an alcove by a side-door. Unfortunately it was locked and the stormtroopers were now marching down the centre of the corridor. Poe swore under his breath and holstered his blaster. The locking mechanism on the door looked like a password scanner rather than a biometric, but there was no way he’d be able to guess it in time. ‘Watch my back,’ he said and started prying the panel off the lock interface. Maybe he could rewire it. In thirty seconds. Yeah right. Chewbacca just nodded and shouldered his weapon. Maybe they could take down the squad before the alarm was raised. 

Sweat beaded on Poe’s brow. He managed to pry open the panel, but the mess of wires and circuitry was completely different than what they used in the Resistance base. The stormtroopers were getting closer, so Poe tried locating some kind of emergency failsafe cable. Just as Chewbacca was sighting down his crossbow at the closest stormtrooper, one of them called for a halt and lifted their comm. 

‘We’re being called back to the bridge,’ they said, sounding puzzled. There was some shuffling in the ranks, but the stormtroopers turned and headed back the way they came.

Poe let out a careful breath and wedged the panel back over the lock mechanism. ‘Okay this is getting ridiculous. What are the odds that we get to the holding cells and they’re packed wall to wall with ’troopers?’

Chewbacca growled a response. 

‘Yeah, I know. We’ll deal with it if it happens and there’s no use worrying about it now.’

Chewbacca gave Poe a pat on the shoulder that nearly sent him stumbling. 

‘I’d just feel a little better about this if it wasn’t so easy.’

///

‘I swear it was 62368,’ Ben insisted. ‘I saw someone input it. Though maybe the sixes were fives?’ he added thoughtfully.

‘Well, whatever you saw, it’s not working now,’ Eight-seven said. He pulled the panel off the locking mechanism and stared hard at the wiring.

‘Do you know what you’re doing?’ Ben asked.

‘Kind of.’

‘Well, you can take your time, the surveillance is out.’

‘Yeah, because that’s the only thing that could go wrong here,’ Eight-seven grumbled as he fiddled with the lock’s wiring.

‘Try jiggling that blue wire, I think it’s a power source cable,’ Ben said, trying to crane his neck for a better look.

‘No, that’s the emergency power back-up cable,’ Eight-seven said. 

‘Just try it,’ Ben insisted.

‘Do you want to do this?’ Eight-seven retorted.

‘Yes! Unfortunately I’m on _this_ side of the bars.’ 

Eight-seven muttered something under his breath and started picking at the yellow wire connection. The lock mechanism beeped for a second and then the cell door swung open.

‘Stand up and step away from that cell!’ A harsh voice called out. Eight-seven froze where he was. He’d taken his helmet off after Ben had convinced him to go along with this ridiculous escape plan. Apparently he hadn’t liked talking to a stormtrooper mask. Eight-seven didn’t blame him for that.

‘Get up! Now!’ the voice called again and Eight-seven slowly stood up and turned around. There was a blaster and some sort of crossbow pointed at him. They weren’t being wielded by stormtroopers.

‘Uncle Chewy? Dameron? What the kriff are you doing here?’ Ben said, with something like awe in his voice.

The person holding the crossbow growled something that Eight-seven didn’t understand. Ben trilled something back with a laugh. 

‘Okay, okay,’ Ben said in Standard, ‘put the weapons up. This is Eight-seven and he was helping me break out. You’re lucky you arrived when you did or we would have been gone.’

‘Yeah, right,’ Eight-seven muttered.

‘No, I’d believe it. This place has been weirdly under-guarded. Poe Dameron, by the way,’ said the guy with the blaster. He held out a hand. 

‘Uh, hi,’ said Eight-seven and shook the proffered hand.

‘Is Eight-seven really your name?’ Dameron asked.

Ben looked pensive. ‘Can we stay on topic?’ he asked. ‘What do you mean by “under-guarded”?’ 

Dameron turned back to Ben. ‘Exactly what I said. We didn’t encounter a single patrol and every time it looked like trouble was heading our way, it just sort of… veered off.’

‘Huh,’ was all Ben had to say. If anything his brows furrowed further. For all his bravado, when Ben stood up, he swayed for a moment. Eight-seven went to give him a hand, but Chewbacca pushed him gently aside and proceeded to pick Ben up. Ben said some more incomprehensible things in the growly language. His tone was pretty obviously sulky though. Chewbacca ignored him and motioned for Dameron to take the lead. Eight-seven left his helmet on the ground and took position watching the tail. It almost felt like a really weird patrol, but the feeling of hope that rose in him was completely new.

///

Phasma approached Hux on the bridge. He turned to face her and gave a perfunctory nod. Ben’s escape, and in particular Eight-seven’s defection, had hit her a lot harder than he had planned. The last thing he wanted was to conduct yet another post-mortem of the events.

‘Sir,’ Phasma said.

‘Yes, captain?’ Hux asked.

‘I’ve been reviewing the footage of the escape and I think I’ve discovered something important.’

A cold feeling slid down Hux’s back. No doubt she had spent her free shifts poring over holofiles. ‘And what have you discovered?’ Hux asked in a perfectly even tone.

‘The rescue party was Resistance.’

‘What? Why would the Resistance care about some smuggler?’

Phasma clenched a fist before relaxing it. ‘I don’t know that they would, sir. But what if… what if he really was “Ben”? It’s a common name, but I think General Organa had a son called Ben.’

Hux went very still. The Force sensitivity, the targeting of the First Order, even the kriffing ship they’d captured off him. It all fit. Hux had just let the son of the Resistance leader escape for, for _sentiment_.

Hux struggled to keep his dawning horror and rage from seeping into his voice. ‘We may never know the truth,’ he said.


End file.
